Mobile Marketing Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog

Are you a hands-on small business owner managing your own digital marketing grappling with Google’s April 21st mobile-friendly update? We’re here to help. This article is your go-to guide for dealing with the aftermath of Google’s April 21st update. We’re one week out from Google’s latest major algorithm update and that means it’s time to dive into data and plan ahead — because even if the mobile-friendly update boosted your mobile traffic, we know search engine optimization is never complete.

Read on for post-April 21st advice! This guide discusses everything a hands-on business owner needs to know about improving your website’s appearance in mobile search results:

Mobile optimized sites have been all the rage since Google’s explicit February announcement that mobile-friendliness will be used as an organic ranking signal starting April 21st. However, Google has not forgotten about the original purpose of mobile devices — phone calls. In February, Google made it easier for advertisers to engage smartphone users with call-only ads. Although call-only campaigns are fairly new to Google AdWords, there are certain steps you can take to get the most out of them.

As the April 21st deadline to make your site mobile-friendly approaches, many sites are checking to see if their pages get the “mobile-friendly” annotation. Those two words are Google’s promise to searchers that a result meets a certain standard of usability that mobile surfers are starting to expect.

What’s concerning is that sometimes the label doesn’t show up — even though Google’s own Mobile-Friendly Test declares “Awesome! This page is mobile-friendly.” In working with clients and through research, we’ve uncovered little-discussed reasons why a mobile-friendly annotation may not show up despite a page’s being fully optimized for mobile browsing.

Google’s Feb. 26 announcement that the search engine will now “surface content from indexed apps more prominently in search” is significant news for SEOs. If a user has downloaded your app, your app content can get a ranking boost in their SERP — and if a ranking boost is on the table, it definitely makes an SEO stop and consider the possibilities.

On average, people install 26 apps on their phone … but there are more than 1.3 million apps in the app store. And we know that 5 percent of apps drive 92 percent of all app downloads. Moral of the story? Apps are a very competitive space, and before any coding begins, it’s important to determine whether or not an app is worth the investment for your business.

Developing an app is a resource investment, but one that can pay off in time if done right. In this SMX West session — “Search Inside the App” — Google’s Mariya Moeva talks about how Google is looking at apps, and the opportunities they afford. She is joined by digital marketers Ian Sefferman and Justin Briggs. Briggs and Sefferman work in app development and analytics and they will share their latest insights straight from the trenches.

Learn how to get your app indexed in search, what “app deep linking” is, and three app development recommendations straight from a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst.

Given that Google is adding mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, this morning’s SMX West session on mobile search is packed. Everyone is eager to hear insights directly from Google when Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes takes the stage to talk about the update and answer questions from the audience. In addition to Illyes, the audience will also hear from Mitul Gandhi, chief strategist at SEO Clarity, and Bryson Meunier, Director of SEO for Vivid Seats.

The information presented in this session was pretty significant, so we’re going to go ahead and tell you the two most important takeaways right up front. The two things SEOs absolutely need to take away from this session are:

1) Google’s Gary Illyes revealed that there is a Google team dedicated to indexing mobile sites separately – and the separate indexing of mobile sites is something Google might experiment with in the future.

2) April 21, 2015, by all accounts, is a “very important day.” That is an exact quote from Gary Illyes.

The navigation of your mobile site helps visitors – and search spiders – find what they are looking for. Build an intuitive navigation that is easy to use and your visitors will be headed toward happiness in no time; build a navigation that is frustrating or confusing and your visitors will be headed straight toward someone else’s website.

So, how can you create a touchscreen-friendly mobile navigation that serves your consumers on the go?

It’s been a busy month, with Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East 2014 and Pubcon Las Vegas 2014 taking place back to back as September gave way to October. After liveblogging 36 key sessions throughout both conferences, two major themes emerged: 1) the importance of optimizing for mobile at every turn and 2) the importance of a mission that goes far above and beyond sales. Read on for six lessons, straight from Pubcon and SMX East, on these key themes:

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